Home

            Although I first heard Daughtry and vowed to never listen to any song he wrote- strictly because he was on the American Idol show- I, like everyone else, first heard this song on the radio and it wasn’t until then that I actually listened to his music. The lyrics of this song truly are what attracted me to giving in and downloading his album. Accompanied by a rock acoustic, his words found somewhere in me that really made me listen. I connected with what he was saying, and heard the words that brought me to hear the track. I never had been into country or slow rock, so actually admitting to listening to him and now writing a paper on his top-chart hit perhaps shows a change in preference of music.

       Daughtry is a perfect illustration of what a person full of determination- to succeed-can do. He was born and raised in North Carolina until he was sixteen. He then moved in with his grandparents and found his inspiration to play music. His first band was called Absent Element, with Chris on the lead vocals and guitar. He originally auditioned for the show INXS but didn’t make the cut, but did catch the eyes of the producers from American Idol. He did participate in the show and dropped short of winning the record deal. That was not a problem however because he had already caught the ears of many and was quickly signed for a record deal anyway with RCA records. He began his career July 2006 and released his first album, self-titled Daughtry in November. This album contained the Billboard top hit Home (Wikipedia). The song ‘Home’ is a song that I had/have connected with. The rock mixed with some deep lyrical song merge to create a work of music that is pleasant to the ears and well as deep to contemplate. I do suppose that lyrics can go as deep as you want to take them, while also maintaining generality with others; however that’s what makes music a personal experience. One person may be on a completely different wavelength after a song in contrast to you. This song has been well over-played on the radio, however it’s truly something in the lyrics that I connect to my current life situations that I connect and relate to. I’ve just recently moved out on my own for the first time and looking for that comfort zone called home is a search I myself looking for. 

       To me, this song screams the search for a place to call home. Home is not just where you grew up, but a home that is being created by yourself, a place to be happy to go to no matter what the situation. The place that you can’t wait to race to after a long days work or a hard day at school. “I’m not running from, no, I think you got me all wrong, I don’t regret this life I chose for me” (AZlyrics). He explains here that it’s nothing that he is trying to neither escape nor something that he chooses to hide from, but a place where he feels at ‘home’. The sanctuary he has created and the love that radiates from the place he goes is all he has ever looked for. There is nothing better in the world than the unconditional love and the solace embraced. This place is something and somewhere he has longed for and searched for, now that it’s found it’s not taken for granted. Although some of life’s decisions put us in places we are not proud of, being able to have your ‘home’ in mind, it can be achieved 

Lyrics To Home by Daughtry

           Having great lyrics that are very relatable to a majority audience is valued as a great component toward having a song that will be “big-time”. However a song without an accompaniment of a lead guitar some beat and some bass to top it off is nothing more than a poem. The most overlooked part in a band is the actual acoustics. The acoustics are what strengthen the tone, set up the mood and prepare the audience for the changes in the experience. Daughtry performs these lyrics to a  s l o w e r  rock piece. The guitar and drums are at a crawling pace with crashing of the symbols and a slap of the bass. The chorus picks up the pace a bit while increasing the volume to solidify emotion into the refrain. The song stays solemn throughout it doesn’t pick up tempo or excitement. It creates a serious emotional search for the place called home. All of the components combine to create an emotional musical experience to which will relate to people. Created by music and lyrical words your brain receives an idea or place to go when you put everything being heard into your perspective. The song can create different emotions for everyone but this song really hits home for me.

 Official Music Video

       Being on my own for the first time, I myself am looking to create a place called home. This song made me go back and look at myself and how I am trying to create a ‘home’ and creating the aspects I was missing from living in a household. The last year has shown to me that true love is the only thing you need to make a house a home. No matter how you got to where you’re at, true love and no regrets will allow the peace of mind needed to have sanctuary. Being that I work a little under an hour away, after a long day, what makes me forget about the day is the thought of what is waiting for me at home. The verse miles getting longer; really hits home with me. The drive home late is terrible, and thinking about the warm embrace when I walk in the door and the tranquility melting about makes your foot heavy. Through this song I see the tribulations I’ve felt getting to where I am now. The pain, the disappointment and the hard work is all worthwhile when acknowledgment of where I am is realized. It has all been worth it.

       The song ‘Home’ by Chris Daughtry is the song I chose to analyze. It’s a song that took a while to really soak in with me, but a song I truly enjoy now. I connected first with the lyrics he chose and the way his words spoke to me after giving the song a chance. It spoke of trouble and tribulations of getting toward making a new safe haven to feel elated to race to. The feeling of love; being what’s truly important, and all that’s necessary to feel whole. The meaning of the song is personal in experience, but universal to individual evaluation, although the meaning needs to be the complete package. A song without lyrics is tough at times to follow, while lyrics without acoustics lack tone and depth. A song needs to have instruments in combination with well written lyrics. I connected with this song on the level of longing for the place to call my home. Daughtry does a great job with the imagery created of this exact search himself. I’ve gone from, not listening to his music at all, to connecting with him and his lyrics on a very deep level in this song. He created an easy path to follow along and capture your attention while also making his piece very relatable.

Chris Daughtry is a Christian. Many of his songs on his album Daughtry reflect his faith

High to NIU

DREAM

Being in high school it is typically every student’s vision to be at a big university.  This was certainly the vision I had for myself after graduation.  Being plagued with road blocks; applying to school came at the last minute of my senior year, so my choices were minimal.  I chose a university f a r enough away, but still was not what I really wanted for myself.  I ended my freshman year with moving back home and getting a job.  I did not enroll in school for my sophomore year, for making money superseded an education; at the time.  It would take a sincere wakeup call named Brittany to get me to the light and straighten my life out to where I could be productive toward reaching where I wanted to be. 

Sitting at home one day after work I had received a message from a girl with whom I hadn’t spoken with since graduating high school!  She was where I wanted to be; at a university, living on her own and reaching her dreams.  Through compositions back and forth for the week, we had agreed that a reunion was in order. I was to make the 29 mile drive down Annie Glidden from my cold dark man cave and go and visit her in DeKalb.  We had been close in high school until circumstances had her paired together with one of my good friends and we hadn’t talked much since.  But this seemed to be an opportunity to reignite my spark and help motivate a change in me, for I was going nowhere. The weekend seemed to approach like a slug in the middle of winter and I was eager to have some common ground.  As the days passed everything I had planned to talk about and say was forgotten on the trip there.  When I walked up to the door my memory was erased like chalk off the board.  We made it to the couch and like chatter on the train, time elapsed enormously too fast. We had chatted about where I’d been and what I was up to; which was no interesting topic. I was ashamed to admit that I was going nowhere and needed an out to get back on track.  There was just some sparkle about this girl; she had motivation like she hadn’t been let down, beauty like it came cheap, and a brain that made my knees weak.  She was the one.

I went home and was enrolled in Rock Valley Community College as quick as the ink would fill out the forms.  I knew that if I wanted to get to where she was I had to get my credits up past 60 and have a GPA above 2.75.  This was no easy task, I had been out of school for a year, I was working full time, and I had my head so far in the clouds I felt like a bird.  My transcripts came in from the other school and contained the information letting me know how high the bar was for me to hurdle.  My transferred GPA was a flat 2.00 and I had earned a staggering 34 credit hours. That was a full course load with A’s and B’s or I was staying home next year.  However there was no hurdle I wasn’t about to jump over, I knew I had someone truly special behind me and that alone motivated a fire in me that I hadn’t ever seen.  I felt like any tribulation that crossed my path was to be conquered for the light at the end of the tunnel was no longer dim, the future for me actually held value, I had something that I wanted so badly, that the taste is what woke me in the morning. It was like finding that lost item in the couch that you missed so much, or seeing an old picture that just made your chest warm. When you get that feeling deep inside and it pushes you to do something you couldn’t do yourself, you know there is something truly special there.

After I was enrolled in school there were still life changes to be made.  Bad habits had to be kicked to the curb like last week’s trash; my area of life had to be moved to somewhere more productive until I got back on my feet. All of these things were steps I needed to take to get myself to the top of the mountain. I quit my position at the bar and focused solely on grades and positive habits.  I packed up the moving truck and drove to my positive-abode. The best part of moving was also that it put me closer to seeing “Miss Everything”.  We would work during the day and meet up at night just to stare at each other as if our eyes had two separate stories to tell.  It didn’t matter; when we were together it felt like I could do anything and no matter what challenge came it could be easily overcome.  She gave me that spark needed to start the engine and it didn’t shut down.  I finished the spring semester with a 2.70 flat.  I sent in my application anyway and hoped for the best, but I also planned for the worst.  At this point I decided that psychology was my course work.  I had taken the entry course but knew I could ace it if I took it again, which was a double whammy if I didn’t get accepted the A would boost my GPA for reapplication.  That’s what I did. The first try, as things would have it, sent me with a decline letter. This didn’t even faze me, I was far too happy. I took it in stride and worked full time through the summer and passed the class with just what I expected. I reapplied to NIU and got my acceptance letter in the beginning of August.  MY dream was coming true, and that wasn’t even the best part, I had her.

Meeting back up with Brittany was a dream comes true, in more ways than one. She took me from the murky waters of going nowhere, to getting the job done and continuing to reach for the sky; instead of sitting in it. I went from a going nowhere pothead working at a bar to back in school, back to where I dreamed I’d be and loving life. She showed me that I can do what I set my mind to doing and with her at my side the dreams continue to grow, and they continue to grow as our dreams.